Brian Francis Slattery

I really really liked this. I admit to have been a bit skeptical of the serial format of this novel, particularly since each part was written by a different author. I was concerned that the plot would be too episodic, or that it would feel disjointed. Fortunately, this was not the case. In fact, this flowed extremely well, and it is a testament to the hard work of the writers that I only got thrown out of the story once -- and well-into the book -- because the writing style changed enough for me to notice.

The story is really cool. The Vatican has a super secret series of task forces that protect the world from supernatural things, and those things usually end up being demonic books. I loved everybody on Team Three (aka the Bookburners). Even though Sal is ostensibly the main character, everybody is fully fleshed out with a backstory and agency. Even better, it's a diverse cast. There's the Latin American priest, the Indian grandmother archivist, the Chinese woman fighter, and the Irish hacker. All have had encountered the supernatural in their past, leading them to the team.

The book does start off a bit episodically as a way to get Sal (and the reader) up to speed with how things work in this new magical world, but it soon it becomes apparent that things are starting to link together into a much bigger and more apocalyptic plot.

I loved this and think I'll be subscribing to Season Two. When I first came across Serial Box, I had balked because of the price. Now that I see the high quality of the plotting and writing, I am fully 100% on board.

Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley.… (mehr)